Navy leaders threaten to resign if review of SEAL is halted over Trump tweet: report

Navy leaders this week threatened to resign if a review of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher is halted over a tweet from President Trump, according to The New York Times.

The secretary of the Navy and the admiral who leads the SEALs both threatened to resign if plans to hold a review to decide if Gallagher should be expelled in a war crimes case would be halted after the president said he opposed Gallagher’s dismissal.

The Navy is still proceeding with the case despite the White House’s input, though there was a bout of uncertainty that it would continue, as Trump sought to reverse a demotion for Gallagher.

“The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” Trump tweeted this week. “This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”

Administration officials told The Times that Trump was informed that if he followed up the tweet with a formal order, he would likely lose Navy secretary, Richard Spencer and the commander, Rear Adm. Collin Green. 

In July, a military jury convicted Gallagher, 40, of posing for pictures with a corpse of an ISIS fighter during a 2017 deployment in Iraq. The conviction resulted in loss of rank and reduction in pay but didn’t include jail time. 

Gallagher was acquitted on several other charges, including murder of the fighter’s death and firing on unarmed civilians.

Spencer maintained Friday that he thinks Gallagher should still face a board of his peers to determine whether he should be removed from the force.